ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a general introduction to the historical development of environmental sociology so as to review how the ecological modernization discourse emerged and evolved. It discusses some of the dominant characteristics of ecological modernization theory and analyses how these may be linked to discussion on globalization and urban environmental change. The chapter deals with a set of hypotheses about the greening of office buildings in global cities following the ecological modernization logic. Environmental challenges have eventually also affected the framework of ecological modernization theory, particularly for putting into question the role of science and technology as environmental reform carriers, and also for stressing the need for transnational environmental policy agreements. A more leftist approach argued that a radical anti-growth political culture was necessary to curb environmental problems, somewhat reviving the zero-growth theory of John Stuart Mill.
